It was meant to be a neighbourly kind of summer garden party organised by two teenagers with the blessing of their understanding families.

But what ought to have been a modest, reasonably quiet event, turned nasty after it was advertised on Facebook and about 200 youngsters showed up, not all of them intent on behaving themselves.

Up to 70 police officers from two forces, including dog handlers and a helicopter team, were needed to break up the party in the garden of two flats in Farnborough, Hampshire.

Three 18-year-olds and one 19-year-old were arrested, and a 17-year-old was given a fixed penalty notice.

Police are asking for anyone else who witnessed what happened to come forward and are viewing CCTV footage to try to identify others who were involved in trouble.

Officers today warned of the perils of advertising a party on social networking sites – and two teenagers had a lot of explaining to do.

Seva Nurueva, 15, who threw the party with her next-door neighbour, 17-year-old Jordan Wright, apologised for the trouble. "We are really sorry for all the damage we caused," she said. "It was scary – I did not really know what to do. All I did was cry."

Wright, who lives with his mother, advertised the party, which took place on Saturday night, on his Facebook page: "Come to a party on the 18th."

He said: "I didn't write where it was and I had no idea everyone would know where I lived so I was not expecting so many people. I take full responsibility for the party – it's not my mum's fault, please don't blame her."

His mother, Sherry Wright, added: "I have a Facebook page myself but before this happened I didn't realise how dangerous it could be and how things can escalate from a note on a page.

"People must be more careful about what they say on Facebook because it can get out of hand. It was like Police, Camera, Action. There were police outside with riot shields and batons."

Seva's stepfather Laurence Aghabi, said he had been told that the policing operation could have cost £10,000. "I never thought this would happen when we allowed them to have a quiet party," he said.

"The party started around 8pm, when 80 of Jordan's and Seva's friends who were invited turned up. It all got out of hand and 80 people quickly turned into 200 and it turned into what might be best described as an affray.

"Lads were jumping over the fence from other gardens and we ended up with about 150 in our garden and at least 50 out the front.

"There was nothing we could do about it – 18, 19 and 20-year-olds who Seva and Jordan did not know were turning up with alcohol."

Aghabi said at one point a youth smashed another in the face with a bottle but luckily it did not break. "Seva was crying and Jordan was trying to kick people out," said Aghabi. "We could only apologise to the police as they said it would have cost them around £10,000 to break the whole thing up."

A neighbour, Deborah Hunter, said: "It was so frantic. There were more than 50 police officers in a shoulder-to-shoulder formation, pushing a crowd of 150 kids down the street. It was scary."

Police said people throwing parties should think carefully before advertising them on social networking sites.

Detective Constable Andy Grieve, of Aldershot CID, said: "Anyone who is thinking about hosting a party should think carefully about how they invite people. In this case, word about the party spread quickly. The number of people that were invited was inappropriate for the size of the address in a residential area."